BREAKING THIS MORNING: BACHMANN WON’T RUN FOR REELECTION -- Mike Allen reports for POLITICO: “Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) — the tea-party firebrand and former presidential candidate, facing investigations and a daunting reelection race — announced in a video on her website Wednesday morning that she will not seek reelection to a fifth term. Bachmann, 57, who took office in 2007, says on the video: ‘My good friends: After a great deal of thought and deliberation, I have decided next year I will not seek a fifth congressional term to represent the wonderful people of the Sixth District of Minnesota. After serious consideration, I am confident that this is the right decision.’

Story Continued Below

-- “POLITICO reported over the weekend that she faced ‘existential’ political threats. The Federal Election Commission and the Office of Congressional Ethics are investigating the finances of last year’s Republican primary bid. And she was being challenged again by Jim Graves, a Democrat who came within 5,000 votes, or 1.2 percent points, of unseating her last November. Bachmann added on the eight-and-a-half-minute video: ‘[T]he law limits anyone from serving as president of the United States for more than eight years. And in my opinion, well, eight years is also long enough for any individual to serve as a representative for a specific congressional district.

-- “‘Be assured: My decision was not in any way influenced by any concerns about my being reelected to Congress. … I have every confidence that if I ran, I would again defeat the individual who I defeated last year, who recently announced he is once again running. And rest assured, this decision was not impacted in any way by the recent inquiries into the activities of my former presidential campaign or my former presidential staff. It was clearly understood that compliance with all rules and regulations was an absolute necessity for my presidential campaign. And I have no reason to believe that that was not the case.’” http://politi.co/15hS7aHWatch here:http://youtu.be/Q-nV4AGV50I

WITH OR WITHOUT OBAMA – James Hohmann reports for the hometown paper: “As Democrats try to keep their lock on the Senate next year, some of their most vulnerable incumbents have a problem with President Barack Obama: They can’t win with him, but they probably can’t win without him, either. The party desperately needs African-American voters to vote in numbers approaching last year’s turnout. Embracing Obama and his divisive health care law would no doubt help — the legislation is popular with the Democratic base, particularly among minorities. But get too close to the president and Democrats on the 2014 ballot could alienate white swing voters who hold the key to the midterms, which inherently favor Republicans. The problem is most acute for three Southern Democratic senators from states with large black populations that Obama lost in November: Louisiana’s Mary Landrieu, North Carolina’s Kay Hagan and Arkansas’s Mark Pryor. Republicans need to pick up six seats to win the Senate, and the red-state Democrats, who all voted for Obamacare, top the GOP’s target list.” http://politi.co/15hTq9y

THE NEXT DARRELL ISSA – POLITICO’s Ginger Gibson writes: “It’s not just Darrell Issa looking to make life complicated for the White House over the recent scandals. There’s a slew of very conservative House subcommittee chairmen who all want a piece of the action — and because of their powerful positions, they’re very likely to get it. Republicans Trent Franks of Arizona, Charles Boustany of Louisiana, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Jason Chaffetz of Utah aren’t household names. They chair House panels such as the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight and the Oversight Subcommittee on National Security. These influential conservatives also pose a problem for the House GOP leadership, which is trying to appear measured in its approach to the scandals. If they get too aggressive in their questioning or go beyond the boundaries their chairmen or leadership have set, they risk overreach. That could be just as dangerous for Republicans as for the White House as the 2014 midterms near.” http://politi.co/12gmEZB

-- Hillary Clinton aides are the focus of a new subpoena from Issa related to the Benghazi talking points, the New York Times’ Jeremy Peters reports: http://nyti.ms/17reYVQ

LAWMAKERS WANT REDSKINS TO CHANGE THEIR NAME – The AP reports: “Ten members of Congress are urging the Washington Redskins to change their name because it is offensive to many Native Americans. The representatives said Tuesday they've sent letters to Redskins owner Dan Snyder, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Redskins sponsor FedEx and the other 31 NFL franchises. The letter to Snyder says that ‘Native Americans throughout the country consider the 'R-word' a racial, derogatory slur akin to the 'N-word' among African Americans or the 'W-word' among Latinos.’ Among the group sending the letters are the leaders of the Congressional Native American Caucus: Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Betty McCollum, D-Minn. The nickname is the subject of a long-running legal challenge from a group seeking to have the team lose its trademark protection. Snyder has vowed that he will never change the name.” http://bit.ly/18tr9kM

Wall Street Journal, A1 4-col lead, “Home Sales Power Optimism: Prices Rise at Fastest Pace Since 2006, Calming Investor Fears of a Spring Swoon,” By Nick Timiraos: “Home prices surged during the first quarter at their fastest pace in nearly seven years, the latest sign of a sustained warm-up in an economic recovery that has otherwise been marked by starts and stops. The housing-market revival—and an accompanying report on consumer confidence—adds new grist for a debate inside the Federal Reserve about how far to push its easy-money policies, including an $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program which has helped to keep mortgage rates near historic lows, boosted asset prices and begun to stimulate hiring and spending. Fed officials say they have been considering when to wind down the program. Signs of a stronger housing market could give confidence to officials who want to be sure that the economy can stand on its own, without the bond buying. Still, they have been reluctant to get too enthusiastic about signs of an upturn, in part because the economy has disappointed before.” http://on.wsj.com/12NWHLM

HOUSE JUDICIARY: DID HOLDER LIE UNDER OATH? – Steve Chaggaris, Jill Jackson and Stephanie Lambidakis report for CBS News: “The House Judiciary Committee is looking into whether Attorney General Eric Holder lied under oath during his testimony earlier this month on the Justice Department's seizing of journalists' records, CBS News has confirmed. Holder appeared before the committee on May 15 and said he wasn't involved in ‘the potential prosecution’ of a member of the press under the Espionage Act for disclosing information adding, ‘this is not something I've ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy.’ Shortly thereafter, reports began to surface that the Justice Department, in addition to seizing telephone and email records of Associated Press reporters, had seized the emails and phone records of Fox News correspondent James Rosen. In the case of the AP, Holder had recused himself from the case. However, shortly after his testimony on May 15, the Washington Post reported that Holder had signed off on the search warrant for Rosen's records.” http://cbsn.ws/15i7ujh

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GOOD WEDNESDAY MORNING, MAY 28, 2013, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news. Send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints and corrections to swong@politico.com. If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @scottwongDC.

My new followers include @MalcolmBrudigam and @LukePontier.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – Both the House and Senate are out all week for the Memorial Day recess.

GOP WANTS INDIVIDUAL MANDATE – FOR IMMIGRANTS – David Nather reports for POLITICO: “House Republicans were so opposed to forcing people to buy health insurance that they fought Obamacare all the way to the Supreme Court. But now they may be okay with an individual mandate — if it’s for illegal immigrants. Members of a House immigration group are considering a rule that would force immigrants to buy their own health insurance while they wait for citizenship. The Republicans and other conservatives say their rule wouldn’t be like Obamacare’s at all. Their argument: It’s simply fair to ask immigrants to show they won’t be a drain on the system before getting full citizenship. … Some conservative groups that support immigration reform think the contradiction is so glaring— no mandate for citizens, but one for immigrants — that Republicans should rethink their position.” http://politi.co/12guySx

OBAMA ACCEPTS SEQUESTER – Hans Nichols and Mike Dorning report for Bloomberg: “President Barack Obama has stopped worrying and learned to live with sequestration. Gone are the cold February predictions of mass layoffs, family upheaval and the prospect of a new recession because of the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts. Cabinet secretaries no longer visit the White House briefing room to offer dire forecasts about teacher firings or unsecured borders. With the economy growing, unemployment falling, Republicans unmoved in resisting tax increases and little sign of the public backlash the White House expected, Obama is adjusting to the spending curbs he once derided as ‘just dumb.’ Attacks on sequestration have receded as a major theme of his speeches. ‘He probably has concluded that he can’t change it,’ said Stan Greenberg, a Democrat who was a pollster for former President Bill Clinton. ‘He’s moved away from it because he thinks it’s giving Republicans leverage by focusing on it.’”

AS THE SEQUESTER HITS, MULVANEY BRACES FOR ANGER AT HOME – Greg Jaffe writes on A1 of the Washington Post: “Rep. Mick Mulvane doesn’t want his name on any buildings. His predecessor’s name is etched onto all sorts of things in this conservative South Carolina district. A water treatment plant in Chesterfield. A bridge in Rock Hill. On a recent visit home, Mulvaney rolled through the gate at Shaw Air Force Base and spotted another. It’s a gleaming, $5 million brick-and-glass structure: The John M. Spratt Education Center. ‘I’ve never understood the allure of putting your name on a building that was built with taxpayers’ money,’ Mulvaney said.

-- “Mulvaney, 45, came to Washington in 2010 promising to pare spending even if it meant fewer projects and near-term pain for his South Carolina district. Now three years later, he was coming home just as the budget cuts he has so passionately advocated were starting to bite, particularly in the area around Shaw, where more than 1,000 civilian workers face furloughs and lucrative construction jobs are drying up. He had done what he promised to do, but with his constituents starting to feel real losses, he couldn’t help but worry whether their anger would focus on him. …

-- “To him the numbers make sense. ‘In the greater scheme of things, they are not that big,’ Mulvaney said. But, every once in a while, a personal anecdote punctures his certainty. Earlier this month, a friend and former campaign volunteer stood up at one of the town hall meetings to tell Mulvaney that the defense cuts had cost him his job of five years with a large defense contractor. ‘I just want you to know that these cuts are real and they hurt me,’ said Jeffrey Betsch, a single father of three daughters, who was on the verge of being evicted from his home. After the Rotary Club speech, Mulvaney was thinking about his friend as he drove down a narrow two-lane ribbon of worn blacktop, past strawberry farms and pine forests. He felt terrible, he said, but he also believed that the country faced problems that were bigger than the struggles of a single constituent. ‘I don’t see how you wipe out 40 cents of spending on every dollar and not have someone get hurt,’ Mulvaney said.

-- “When Mulvaney looks ahead, he sees himself possibly running for the Senate in 2016 or maybe pursuing the governor’s office in 2018, when there will be an open Republican primary. Whatever the future holds, he believes he’s a new kind of Republican — the kind who has been willing to team up with the likes of then-Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to freeze defense spending or bash House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) for seeking a compromise with Obama during the recent “fiscal cliff” debate.” http://wapo.st/10GZfKl

SENATE GOP WANTS HIGH COURT TO INVALIDATE RECESS APPOINTMENTS -- Julian Hattem writes for The Hill: “All 45 GOP senators signed a brief calling Obama's appointments an unconstitutional abuse of power. The Senate GOP conference has asked the Supreme Court to invalidate President Obama's January 2012 recess appointments as an unconstitutional abuse of power. All 45 Repubican senators on Tuesday signed on to a brief arguing that Obama overstepped his authority in naming members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) while the Senate was technically still in session. … In January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found that Obama's appointments of three people to the NLRB was unconstitutional. The White House in April asked the Supreme Court to review the case.” http://bit.ly/11oAxNJ

WEINER GAINS GROUND IN MAYORAL RACE – “Disgraced former U.S. Congressman Anthony Weiner is gaining ground on his Democratic rivals in the race for New York City Mayor, according to a new poll. Weiner, who resigned from office two years ago in a sexting scandal, had the support of 19 percent of Democrats in a Marist poll released on Tuesday. That puts him six points behind early frontrunner City Council speaker Christine Quinn, who had support of 25 percent of Democrats. A separate poll released on May 22, the day that Weiner formally declared his candidacy, had shown Quinn, who would be the city's first female and lesbian mayor, with a wider 10 point lead. Another 22 percent of voters told Marist pollsters said they were yet undecided, while 12 percent backed Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and 11 percent were with former city comptroller Bill Thompson, who ran unsuccessfully against Bloomberg four years ago. John Liu, the city's current comptroller, follows with 8 percent.” http://reut.rs/117agV6

KING BOYCOTTS CRUZ DINNER – Kate Nocera reports for BuzzFeed: “New York Republican Peter King is boycotting a state party dinner tomorrow night featuring Sen. Ted Cruz over the Texas conservative’s efforts to defeat a Hurricane Sandy bill earlier this year. ‘I don’t think we should be acknowledging people who are voting against us in our hour of need,’ King told BuzzFeed of his decision to not attend the dinner. King has loudly criticized Republicans like Cruz who come to New York to raise money but voted against the Hurricane Sandy bill, and has urged other Republicans to freeze out opponents to the relief bill. ‘Once I found it was him,’ King explained, ‘I decided not to go. I don’t know if I would have gone or not because of scheduling things, but that made it easy once I found out it was Ted Cruz.’” http://bit.ly/16oHCab

GARDNER WON’T CHALLENGE UDALL FOR SENATE SEAT – Allison Sherry reports for the Denver Post: “One of Colorado's most competitive and viable Republicans in office decided Tuesday he is not going to run against Democratic Sen. Mark Udall next year. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Yuma, said he has decided against entering the race, which does not yet include any Republican candidates. ‘I've got work to do, I'm not in a hurry to run for another office,’ he said. ‘I think the most important thing for people is to know now. I needed to make a decision now, and I'm fully committed to make sure the GOP nominee will win in 2014.’ Gardner was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 to represent the 4th Congressional District. Since then, his district has turned more Republican — and thus more secure — for the 38-year-old multigenerational Coloradan.” http://bit.ly/ZsFomK

CONGRESS EXCELS AT NAMING POST OFFICES – Jeremy Peters writes for the NYT: “Pillory Congress all you want as do-nothing or dysfunctional, as its critics often have. But in one respect, lawmakers in the Capitol are remarkably productive: they name post offices like nobody’s business. A new report from the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research division of Congress, found that about 20 percent of laws passed in recent years were for naming post offices. As Congress has become less and less efficient, the numbers are all the more striking. In the 111th Congress, which met from 2009 to 2010, members passed 383 statutes, 70 of which named post offices. In the 112th Congress, the last Congress to meet before the current one convened in January, members passed 46 measures naming post offices, out of 240 statutes over all. The report notes that many of the post offices were named for officials of local renown. But others were named for better-known figures like Ronald Reagan (three times), Gerald R. Ford (twice), Bob Hope, Nat King Cole and Mickey Mantle.” http://nyti.ms/1ay6yZ4

TUESDAY’S TRIVIA WINNER – We had a three-way tie for first: Mitchell Rivard, Tom Flanagin and Jon Deuser all answered within seconds of each other that Rep. Rick Nolan holds the record for the longest period of time between congressional terms. He left office in January 1981 and returned to the House in January 2013, more than three decades later.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Tom Flanagin has today’s question: Every GOP presidential ticket from 1952 to 2004 had a Nixon, Dole, or Bush on it except one. What ticket was the exception and what year was it? The first person to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at swong@politico.com.

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says “Sign Up.” http://www.politico.com/huddle/

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Authors:

About The Author

Scott Wong covers transportation for POLITICO Pro, and authors The Huddle, POLITICO’s popular morning tipsheet on Congress. He was a congressional reporter with the publication from 2010 to 2012.

He reported from Tucson, Ariz., after the deadly shooting rampage that severely injured Rep. Gabby Giffords and helped break a story about Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill’s private plane that led to her admission she owed more than $300,000 in state property taxes.

He got his professional start in journalism covering local government for two small newspapers in his native San Francisco Bay Area. He later became a staff writer for The Arizona Republic, where he covered the Arizona statehouse and Phoenix City Hall.

After graduating from UCLA, he spent a year teaching English in a rural mountain village in Japan. He is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, and lives with his wife and daughter in Washington.